Bangladesh unlikely to tour Pakistan

The Pakistan Cricket Board is expected to hear the disappointing news of Bangladesh refusing to send its team for a planned one-day series next month after failing to get government clearance.

Despite the visit of the Chairman of the Pakistan board to Dhaka to watch the Asia Cup final and meet with Bangladesh board officials, reliable sources have said that indications are that Bangladesh will not be touring Pakistan .

"The Bangladesh board has conveyed to Zaka Ashraf in Dhaka that they are not getting clearance from their government to send their team to Pakistan next month," a source said.

Pakistan invited Bangladesh to play three one-day internationals in a bid to revive international cricket in the country.

No Test-playing nation has visited Pakistan since March, 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver and wounding five of the visiting players.

The PCB had even invited a security delegation of the Bangladesh board led by their Chairman Mostafa Kamal to Pakistan earlier this month to inspect security arrangements for the tour.

"The Bangladesh delegation was supposed to send their report and get a response from their government this month. But the matter has been delayed and they have already indicated that they might not get clearance to send their team to Pakistan because of security concerns," the source said.

If Bangladesh refuse to send their team to Pakistan it will come as a setback to the PCB which was very confident that the series would be played next month in Karachi and Lahore.

"The PCB is anticipating a negative answer from the Bangladesh board that is why they have began moves to study the feasibility of holding the Pakistan Premier League T20 event this year," one source said.